Before beginning an unpaid arrangement, understand the actual work, organisation and expectations. The words volunteer, intern or work experience do not by themselves decide whether the person is an employee entitled to pay and other conditions.
Use current official guidance and obtain advice where the arrangement is uncertain. This article helps prepare questions and records; it does not determine the legal status of an individual case.
Start with what will happen in practice
Ask who is organising the activity, what work you will do, how participation is arranged and what each side expects. Keep the advertisement and written communications so the description can be checked against the actual experience.
The Fair Work Ombudsman’s unpaid-work guidance explains different arrangements, including volunteering, placements, experience and trials. Its unpaid-work fact sheet discusses the employment-relationship question and circumstances affecting lawful unpaid work.
Read the relevant section for the arrangement. A student placement has different questions from volunteering, and an unpaid skills demonstration is not automatically permission for ongoing unpaid shifts.
Use a practical arrangement-check record
Write down:
- Organiser: the actual entity and contact responsible.
- Purpose: why the activity is proposed and for whose benefit.
- Tasks: what you would do and how the work is supervised.
- Expectations: attendance, duration, instructions and consequences of not participating.
- Payment: what is stated about pay, expenses or other arrangements.
- Learning: specific support, assessment or education connection claimed.
- Records: advertisement, agreement and relevant messages.
- Advice: questions to put to the appropriate official or professional contact.
Do not assume a promise of exposure, experience or a possible future job replaces an employee’s entitlements if an employment relationship exists.
Compare the description with actual duties
In this original fictional example, a person is invited to help at a community activity described as volunteering. Before starting, they ask about the tasks, support, how participation can be discussed and whether the arrangement has been checked.
In another invented scenario, a business advertises experience but expects ongoing productive shifts under its direction. The person records those expectations and seeks advice rather than concluding the arrangement is lawful because the advertisement says unpaid.
These scenarios illustrate questions, not legal findings. The complete circumstances need to be considered by the appropriate adviser.
Check safety and support separately
Ask about the responsible contact, induction, task instruction, reporting concerns and any relevant insurance or screening arrangements. Unpaid participation does not make unfamiliar work safe or establish that a person may perform a regulated task.
Verify any claimed course credit or qualification benefit with the actual education or training provider. Do not rely on a business’s assurance that participation will automatically produce recognition.
Reassess when the arrangement changes
If duties, duration or expectations differ from what was described, keep an accurate record and seek advice promptly. Do not sign an inaccurate statement that the activity remained unchanged merely to obtain a reference.
Use the relevant Fair Work information and assistance pathway for an employment concern, and the appropriate safety or other process for a separate issue. A useful first step is a clear account of the real arrangement, supported by records and questions that an adviser can assess.
When describing genuine participation in applications, see how to present community-work experience accurately, keeping the nature of the arrangement clear.
